The sun slowly rose in the sky, announcing a new day on this harsh land. Amid the silence of the desert, near the Dead Lakes, a loud roar echoed from afar, and smoke spread across the sky like a massive black dragon sweeping over the world.
The ten vehicles raced to reach the site of the Scorpion Tribe's camp. In the lead vehicle sat a scientist in a white coat, next to a muscular man with a serious face, thick eyebrows, and his hair tied into five or six braids down his back. A sharp sword lay across his back as he drove the massive truck.
"Did we really have to wait until morning, William? We should have attacked while we had the chance. Now they might have escaped," the muscular man spoke in a rough voice, his eyes fixed on the lakes a few meters away.
"Hey, you don't understand anything, Gaius. I actually wanted to attack last night, but those creatures I saw through the binoculars were mutants. We had to stop halfway, or we might have been wiped out. I think this situation was arranged by Oliver to get rid of any followers," William sighed, his eyes flashing with sharp insight as he analyzed the situation calmly.
"I don't care as long as you keep your promise. Our mercenary team has its own ways of dealing with mutants," Gaius replied firmly, sounding frustrated that the mission would take longer.
"Ha… You really are something," William said, showing a hint of regret. "If I had known that, I would have… Never mind. As long as they're alive, the deal still stands."
"Alright, get ready. We've arrived," Gaius said before pulling a lever in front of him, creating a loud noise as he pressed the brake, bringing the truck to a screeching halt.
The truck stopped there, its rusty, metal parts trembling and creaking as if it were about to collapse, like a beast gasping for breath.
Behind them, the other vehicles came to a stop in the same way, and the people inside began to exit. Most of them had dark skin and muscular builds, wearing rough outfits made of leather mixed with large iron plates, forming a harsh, savage-looking armor. Their faces showed hints of mockery and boredom.
William looked at this group of people with some doubt in his eyes before shaking his head and turning forward. He walked beside Gaius, examining what had once been a camp full of members of the Scorpion Tribe.
Before them lay scattered corpses, some human, while many were green-skinned creatures with giant builds, several times larger than humans. Their hands were made entirely of claws, with no visible eyes, mouth, or ears on their skulls—only a small, rough nose.
Around them, a few ragged tents burned with faint remnants of fire, serving as the only witness to yesterday's brutal battle. The air was thick with the smell of smoke, blood, and rust, while an invisible pressure from the nearby lakes seemed to feed off the aura of death around. The Dead Lakes truly lived up to their name.
"Ugh…" Unable to stand the smell, William ran away and started to vomit. "Haha, people from the Three Kingdoms are really weak," one of the mercenaries behind him couldn't help but laugh, followed by the entire group.
"It seems they've lost at least two hundred people here. If your information is correct, only a hundred remain," Gaius calmly assessed the situation ahead.
"I think they went toward the southern mountains where they have a chance to survive. So we need to follow them," William said weakly after emptying his stomach.
"Alright, start gathering anything edible before we move forward. We don't know the terrain there," Gaius ordered his team, advancing further to examine the area ahead.
"What? You can't be serious about this," William stepped forward, standing in front of Gaius, his eyes filled with determination.
Sigh "It's not easy to survive in this crazy era; it's even harder to live with dignity," Gaius sighed, looking into William's eyes. "You in the Kingdoms don't realize what's happening around you. Just stay in the vehicle and let us do our job."
"..." William didn't know how to respond, but he felt something break inside him. The ideal image of the world he'd grown up with had already shattered. Though he knew the world outside the walls was harsh, he hadn't realized the true extent of its cruelty until now.
"Well, with this many corpses, our food supply will last for weeks. We should thank that weakling for this nourishing task," one of the team members laughed, stepping toward a nearby corpse. He was muscular and stood 1.9 meters tall, with a bald head and face covered in scars, big and small.
One scar looked as if someone had split his head in two, and somehow, someone had used a large number of needles and threads to stitch the parts back together. On the back of his neck, a tattoo of a black beast climbed up toward his head.
"Fierce, savage, monstrous"—these were the three words that came to William's mind when he saw that man's appearance. Unable to bear it any longer, he walked toward the back of the truck.
"Haha, looks like you've become someone else's nightmare again, Logan. What's the count now?" The other team members burst into laughter at William's reaction.
"Come on, we don't have much time. We need to leave before those creatures show up again," Gaius yelled out again, before turning to the corpse of a green-skinned creature in front of him.